The trouble with ‘independent’ inquiries

‘Independent’ is becoming an excuse-word in government. The inquiry into historical child abuse is called the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). This lets the government wash its hands of it. Although Theresa May set it up, with its hopeless remit, she keeps it at a distance now.

So does her Home Office successor, Amber Rudd. In the Commons debate on the IICSA’s latest travails this week, the government fielded only a very junior minister, Sarah Newton. She, too, hid behind the point that the inquiry is independent.

Of course the government should not be running it. But if no chairman — the fourth one is now being undermined — and no senior lawyers can stay the course, don’t its inventors have to try something else?

This is an extract from Charles Moore’s Notes. The full article can be found here.